· 8 September 2025, 20:00
**Newcastle United get their 2025/26 Champions League campaign underway in some style as Barcelona come to St James' Park to get the competition underway for the Magpies.**
You can't talk about Barcelona coming to St James' Park without mentioning the words Faustino Asprilla and hat-trick. In 1997, Newcastle shocked the football world by beating the Spanish side 3-2 thanks to three goals from the Colombian forward.
It is the kind of occasion that everyone is hoping to see repeated when Barcelona return to Tyneside on 18th September.
The game may not live up to the hype, but we're sure the atmosphere will. The crowd let Paris Saint-Germain know what a proper fanbase sounds like two seasons ago, and we're sure Barcelona will get the same treatment.
A repeat performance almost 30 years later would be great
Hansi Flick will not be in the dugout at St James' Park next week
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We've often wondered what the atmosphere sounds like when you're sat in the dugout at St James' Park, and that's something that Barcelona boss Hansi Flick and his assistant Marcus Sorg will also have to keep wondering.
Neither man will be in the dugout on 18th September as they will serve a one-match touchline ban, which has been carried over from last season's competition.
The pair were reprimanded for their conduct during the semi-final second leg defeat to Inter Milan last season and handed a one-match ban that will be served at St James' Park.
Newcastle are only lacking the confidence to score goals
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These days, we're not sure that a touchline ban really matters so much, given how easy it is for the manager to communicate with his bench, but it could be a psychological boost to Newcastle if nothing else.
Barcelona have started the season well and will prove to be a massive test for Newcastle, who do tend to rise to the occasion.
We just hope that we can find the net a few times against Wolverhampton Wanderers at the weekend to give us the confidence that we can score when Barca come to town. That confidence in front of goal is all that's really missing from the side right now.